September | October 2009

Feature title: Practical methods of improving health & performance in Pangasius

culture in Vietnam
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 Pangasius Pangasius
Table 1: Commercial diet composition Table 2: Feeding treatments

Ingredient (% dry diet) % dry matter First phase (week Second phase
treatment
1-5) (week 5-10)
Fishmeal 60% protein 5.00 Cassava 15.00

Practical methods of improving health &

Soybean meal 27.45 Fish Oil 0.15
Control No Bio-Mos No Bio-Mos
Rice bran 37.28 Soy oil 0.15

performance in Pangasius
Meat-bone meal 13.72 Premix 1.00 Treatment 1 Bio-Mos (2kg/ton) Bio-Mos (1kg/ton)
D,L-methionine 0.25
Treatment 2 Bio-Mos (4kg/ton) Bio-Mos (2kg/ton)
Bio-Mos

culture in Vietnam grown commercially using a variety of have to be optimally managed in order produce more robust and healthy juveniles
© Meobeo | Dreamstime.com

culture methods from ponds to floating
cages. (Image 2)
The Vietnam Association of Seafood
Exporters and Producers (VASEP) report
by Le Thanh Hung, Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc and Vo Thi Thanh Binh of the Faculty of Fisheries, Nong Lam University, Ho
that Pangasius farming doubled from
Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Thien Le of Alltech Vietnam Co Ltd, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
400,000 tonnes in 2005 to 825,000 in 2006
and reached 1.1 million tonnes in 2008.
The processed products from Basa and
Tra catfish exported in 2008 had a value of
US$1.4 billion with exports going to over
to achieve cost effective production and
ensure market competitiveness.
The occurrence of fish diseases has
severe economic implications for the
farmer due to stock loss, sub-optimal
growth performance and the requirement
for therapeutic intervention.
With low survivals, high feed costs and
low profit margins farmers are looking for
ways to improve growth and performance
for stock recruitment. This results in long
tem improvements in product quality and
safety therefore ensuring sustainability and
contributing to rural development.
Bio-Mos and Tra catfish
In the Faculty of Fisheries at the
University of Nong Lam our research group
has been investigating the effect of Bio-Mos,
a mannan oligosaccharide from Alltech Inc,

A
quaculture
production in
Vietnam has
been develop-
ing since the early 1960s.
In the last 20 years rapid
expansion has taken
place due to the develop-
ment and diversification
of intensive production
methods especially for
the production of species
for export markets.
Vietnam has 3260km of coastline and
1.7 million ha of inland area available for
tilapia, catfish and fresh-
water and brackish water
shrimps.
Today brackish water
shrimp and catfish dominate
aquaculture production for
export.
Catfish production
Catfish have been farmed
in the Mekong Delta region
of Vietnam (Image 1) for 50
Image 1: Location of the Mekong Delta
years and although 12 species
of catfish are known to exist,
aquaculture and cultures a great variety only two species Pangasius hypophthalmus
of aquaculture species including: carps, (Tra) and Pangasius bocourti (Basa) are
100 countries. and reduce mortality in their catfish stocks. USA, on Tra catfish.
In 2008 most exports went to the The improve-
European Union 35%, Russia 18%, Ukraine ment of these
12% and smaller amounts to Asean, China, performance
USA, Mexico, Egypt and others. parameters
Production forecasts from the FAO in is their most
the 2009 Pangasius Market Report antici- effective tool
pated that Vietnam would produce 1.5mil- to impact their
lion tonnes of catfish this year. overall cost of
However, this predicted growth may not production.
be achievable due to the challenges faced by Prophylactic
the industry today. strategies
Growing production costs due to high aimed at the
feed prices, lack of processing infrastruc- reduction of
stress and
FOOD CHAIN
ture and storage combined with market
uncertainty, due to difficulties resulting from exposure of
some importing countries setting up techni- fish to poten-
cal barriers to limit imports, have resulted tial pathogens
in many farmers in the Mekong Delta stop- includes strict
operational
From Farm to Table
ping or suspending the culture of catfish.
VASEP report that this may be as high management
as 30 percent of catfish breeders and will and bio-securi-
result in an overall drop in catfish produc- ty programs.
tion when compared to 2008. Vaccination
is not available
Production challenges for catfish in
In addition to the difficult economic Vietnam and
environment the catfish industry is also fac- focus has The premier meeting point for the feed and food industry in 2010.
shifted to nutri- Addressing common concerns and identifying opportunities.
ing many production challenges. The rapid
development of the industry and reduction tional strategies Join us in Cancun, Mexico!. For more information visit:

www.globalfeed-food.com
in profits has necessitated the development that impact on
of more efficient management practises. fish perfor-
Production planning, husbandry tech- mance parame- Hosted jointly by in co-operation
ters and aim to FAO & IFIF with Conafab
Image 2: commercial growing ponds & floating cages niques, feed, health and water resources

10 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | September-october 09 September-october 09 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 11

IFIF QP AD.indd 1 19/06/2009 15:34
 Pangasius Pangasius
tion were acclimatised in the
University’s experimental farm
for three weeks prior to trans-
ferring 300 fish of 12-13g aver-
age weight to each of 12 hapas
(1x1x1m). (Figure 3)
These fish were fed experi-
mental diets with and without
Bio-Mos for five weeks when
150 fish were removed for the
assessment of fish health, chal-
lenge test and stress status. The
remaining fish continued to be
fed the assigned treatment for a
further five weeks.
The diet fed to the fish was
a floating extruded feed based Figure 1: Intestine section of fish fed Bio-Mos supplemented feed for 5 weeks (x40).
juveniles from a common population were acclimatised in the University’s
experimental farm for three weeks prior to transferring 300 fish on a commercial formulation
produced in a local feed mill (see
the control treatment to 1.09 with the 0.4 may help explain the higher efficiency of high (63.75 – 81.25%). Lower survival
Table 1). The treatments applied,
We have demonstrated that Bio-Mos FCR, improve stress and disease resistance percent Bio-Mos supplementation in phase feed use with better FCR’s in the Bio-Mos was observed in the control fish but
with four replicates per treatment, are
supplementation can play an important role and positively influence gut morphology. 1 and from 1.39 in the control treatment supplemented feed. the differences were not significant.
shown in Table 2. All the fish in the differ-
in improving health status, help optimise In a series of experiments, Tra cat- to 1.14 with the 0.2 percent Bio-Mos In contrast challenging fish with high
ent treatment groups were fed twice daily
performance through improved growth and fish juveniles from a common popula- to satiation.
supplementation in phase 2. Stress tests ammonia levels (150mg/l) indicated that
It should be noted that the FCR’s After the first phase of the experiment 0.2 percent Bio-Mos supplementation
calculated in this experiment are higher was completed
Growth and than those expected for catfish in pond fish from the
Figure 2: Trail facilities and challenge methods used performance culture, typically varying from 1.0 – 1.1, different treat-
After five weeks due to the high densities of 300 fish/m3 ments were
the fish fed Bio-Mos
showed improved
and concrete tanks used in the experi-
mental facilities.
subjected to a
salinity (15‰)
Marine phospholipids
fish performance in The results would appear to indicate stress test
comparison to the that the Pangasius had better digestion and after the
control treatment A new generation of omega-3 lipids
Injection and nutrient utilisation with the Bio-Mos second phase
with and this improve- supplemented feeds. an ammonia with a broader spectrum of health
bacteria ment continued to (150mg/l) stress benefits.
be measured in the Gut morphology test. (see Table
second phase of the The gut morphology of these fish was 3). - High DHA contents, preferably in
feeding experiment. examined to investigate whether any dif- The fish easily digestible and highly bio
The specific growth ferences in the dietary treatments could be challenged to
rate in the first feeding
available form for aquaculture use.
observed. Under light microscopy exami- 15‰ salinity
Cohabitation
phase was significantly nation of the intestinal section showed adapted well - Numerous benefits on improving
increased from 1.94 to
with parasite that the fish fed 0.2 and 0.4 percent as the survival the immune response, better
2.48 percent/day and Bio-Mos had a higher density of villi than rates after
in the second phase weight gain and physical
the control diet (see Figure 1). . The more five challenged
Cohabitation from 1.88 to 2.13 complex and dense structure of the gut days are quite conditions of land animals.
with bacteria
disease percent/day.
Survivals were also
Table 3: Survival rates of fish when transferred to saline water or
statistically improved
water with high ammonia concentration
in the Bio-Mos
supplemented groups. Ammonia
treatment Salinity test treatment
test
Feed intake in the Phase 1 (15‰) Phase 2
(150mg/l)
trial had a tendency
to decrease in the Control 63.75a Control 28.75 a
fish fed Bio-Mos. The Fiskerihavnsgade 35 Phone +45 79120999
0.2% Bio-Mos 76.25a 0.1% Bio-Mos 33.75 ab P.O. Box 359 Fax +45 79120888
food conversion rate
0.4% Bio-Mos 81.25a 0.2% Bio-Mos 80.00 b 6701 Esbjerg E-mail 999@999.dk
(FCR) was significantly
reduced from 1.64 in Different letters in the same column denote significant differences Denmark Web www.999.dk
(P<0.05)

12 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | September-october 09 September-october 09 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 13

999_AD_IAF0904V3.indd 1 22/06/2009 14:01

Pangasius
helped Tra catfish tolerate a high ammo-
nia concentration allowing an 80 percent
survival rate compared to 28.75 percent
in the control treatment.
It appears that the Bio-Mos fed fish
The inclusion of 0.2 percent
Bio-Mos can also protect
Tra catfish from external
parasites and bacterial
disease challenges, improve
performance and increase
their tolerance to high
ammonia levels.
have a higher tolerance to ammonia
and this may possibly be due to the
increased skin mucous observed which
acts as a protective barrier.
Phase 1
2
Phase
2
Figure 3: Survival rates of fish fed Bio-Mos and then
challenged with bacterial injection, cohabitation with
bacterial infected fish or with parasites for the first
and second feeding phases.
14 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | September-october 09
Fish feed that not only fish rave about. Buhler is the global technology partner for
companies producing fish feed on a commercial scale. With good reason: From
raw material processing to extrusion and drying, only leading technologies are
Fish health - bacterial and control treatment in the cohabitation utilised. Buhler specialists having an intimate understanding of all process stages
parasitic challenge tests and parasite challenges, but not for the
Tra catfish health status was investigated bacteria injection challenge. – mastering them with passion, combine these technologies into clever overall
In Phases 1 and 2, Bio-Mos supplementa-
by cohabitation and inoculative bacterial
tion at 0.2 percent increased the survival
solutions. The result: superior-quality micro-pellets or flakes, shrimp pellets,
challenges with Edwardsiella ictaluri known
to cause enteric septicae- rates in bacteria and parasite challenges.
However, these were not significantly
floating and sinking feeds that not only fish rave about.
mia in catfish (ESC).
In addition, a challenge different from the control except for the www.buhlergroup.com/extrusion
test with an external para- survival rates in the bacteria injection chal-
lenge of Phase 2.
site Ichthyophthirius mul-
tifilis was undertaken. This
Parasite challenge
parasite is responsible for
large fish losses in the In the parasite challenge the results
industry (see Figure 2).
In the inoculative chal-
showed that Bio-Mos supplementation
had the ability to protect Tra catfish
lenge 20 fish from each from external parasites. The incidence
and severity rates of Ichthyophthirius on
treatment tank were
removed to another tank the skin and gill was significantly reduced
and injected with 106cells/ in the 0.2 and 0.4 percent Bio-Mos treat-
ml of Edwardsiella ictaluri ments (see Table 4).
and in the cohabitation
challenge 30 fish from Cost benefits
each treatment tank were In order to assess the economic ben-
removed to another tank efit of Bio-Mos supplementation the cost
and cohabitation took place with five of production was assessed using the
infected fish. This took place at the end improved performance parameters of FCR
of the first and at the end of the second and survival rates from the work described.
feeding phase. This can be seen in table 5 and 6 and is
In the cohabita- expressed as the cost of production of 1kg
tion challenge with of fish produced.
the external parasite
Ichthyophthirius Conclusion
multifilis 30 fish Our results have shown that the supple-
from each treatment mentation with 0.2 and 0.4 percent Bio-
tank were removed Mos in feed can result in better growth
to another tank and performance, feed utilisation and improved
cohabited with five survival rates in Tra catfish.
infected fish. The In the second Phase 0.2 percent Bio-Mos
incidence rate and inclusion resulted in an increased feed cost
severity of infections of two percent but returned a benefit of
was determined by 16 percent in terms of reduced production
counting the number cost per kg of weight gain achieved.
of Ichthyophthyrius The inclusion of 0.2 percent Bio-Mos
multifiliis on each gill can also protect Tra catfish from external
arch and skin under parasites and bacterial disease challenges,
the microscope at improve performance and increase their
40x magnification. tolerance to high ammonia levels.
The survival rates
from the different
challenge methods
are shown in Figure
3. mo re in fo rmatio n :
Bio-Mos supple- Dr Hung
mentation at 0.4 Email: lthungts@yahoo.com.vn
percent, in Phase Ms Thien Le
1, has significantly Email: tle@alltech.com
improved survival
compared with the
The solution behind the solution.
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